With just six seconds left to his opponent's 20 in the tournament-deciding Armageddon game at the 2012 Metropolitan International in Los Angeles, Dionisio Aldama reluctantly accepted Timur Gareyev's draw offer, accepting that the magnificent Swarovski crystal winner's trophy would go to the top seed.

Aldama correctly decided that, given his time situation – no increment! - and his exposed king, his winning chances had disappeared and he had nothing better than taking a perpetual check on h5 and e2.

Gareyev and Aldama, Photo Cathy Rogers

Upon the conclusion of the game Aldama looked baffled rather than triumphant and only seconds later one of the spectators could not help themselves, telling Aldama “You've won!”

Aldama with the trophy, Photo Cathy Rogers

Suddenly a grin broke out on Aldama's face – he suddenly woke up to the fact that in an Armageddon game, Black only needs to draw to win the game. The grin was not to leave the 43-year-old Mexican's visage for the duration of the award ceremony. When the arbiter announced that he was one foreign opponent short of completing a Grandmaster norm, Aldama just shrugged and kept smiling. GM norm or not, this was the biggest win of his career.

Gareyev, who recently changed federations from Uzbekhistan to the US, too late to be considered for the American team soon to fly to the Istanbul Olympiad, probably thought he had wrapped up the tournament in the penultimate round when he defeated co-leader Enrique Sevillano in the following fine game.

This win put Gareev half a point clear of Aldama, Alex Shabalov and Varuzhan Akobian. Since Akobian took half point byes in the final two rounds (to attend the US pre-Olympiad camp in Saint Louis) and Aldama had Black against the in-form GM-elect Sevillano to come, Gareev thought he was safe in agreeing a short draw with White against Shabalov. (Shabalov was the only top player to attempt the US Open - Metro International double and was therefore, not surprisingly, rather tired and agreeable to a quick adjournment to the Radisson Hotel bar.)

10...Nbd7 seems less risky, but then follows 11.Nf5!! exf5 12.Bxd6 followed by 13.exf5 and Black will be lucky to survive.

11.e5! dxe5! 12.Nb3!?

12.Bxf8 exd4 13.Ba3 would be reasonable for White but Sevillano wants more.

12...Bd7?!

Aldama desperately wants Sevillano to give up his dark-squared bishop and rejects 12...Rd8 13.Qe2 as just what his opponent wants.

13.Bxf8?

The interpolation of 13.Bd6!! would have exposed Black's strategy as a little too risky. Because the b7 square needs defending, Black can do no better than 13...Qc8 after which .Bxf8 Kxf8 15.Qd6+ leads to a big White initiative.

A wonderful positional performance by Aldama which left Sevillano baffled as to what had gone wrong.

An hour later Aldama found himself sitting opposite Gareyev for the fateful Armageddon game – 6 minutes versus 5. For an Armageddon game, the level of play was stunning; we pick up the game on move 24 with Aldama seeking to avoid being ground down along the d file.

Los Angeles 2012

White: T.Gareyev

Black: D.Aldama

Position after White's 24th move

24...d5! 25.cxd5 Nxd5! 26.Nxf5! Rxf5 27.Qxc6

The situation looks critical for Black, a pawn down and pinned along the d file, but Aldama has not finished with the tricks.

28...e3! 28.Rd3?!

28...Rdf8!! 29.Rxd5!

Deciding to walk into Black's trap – faced with threats of 29...Nb4 and 29...Ndxf4!, Gareyev makes the practical choice.

In retrospect, 47.Qd1 would almost certainly have won the game on time but Gareyev accidentally allows a perpetual check.

47...Qh5+ 48.Kg2 Qe2+ 49.Kh3

As mentioned above, Aldama avoided losing on time by taking the draw, and then discovered to his surprise that he had won the tournament.

Draw Agreed

Stand-alone International open tournaments (not associated with national title events) have been rare birds on the west coast – so rare that one even had a movie made about it.

However for the second time in a year Ankit Gupta and the Metropolitan Chess Club have found the necessary sponsorship to attract a field capable of allowing some of the US's best young players to try for international title norms.

Gupta, and his efficient team of arbiters, Randy Hough and Damien Nash, could boast a fine field, with 10 GMs, 11 IMs and no less than 14 of the west coast's outstanding players aged under 16, many of whom already could claim title norms (some from the first Metropolitan International).

Add to that a fine venue – the ballroom at the LAX Radisson, an impressive prize fund and the remarkable crystal trophy to go with the $5,000 first prize and some inspired chess was not surprising.

(Pitting packs of hungry juniors against established players helps as well, and in LA more than one GM was forced to lower his colours to a young gun.)

Unfortunately a spate of late withdrawals by foreign players left fewer than 20 non-US competitors in the field – the magic number given by the world body FIDE which allows an organiser to disregard the 4 foreign opponent rule usually required for title results.

As a result, Aldama and others who played at the required level for a title result but had been paired against only 3 non-US players could not earn a title norm.

Kayden Troff, Photo Cathy Rogers

The only player who jumped through all FIDE's hoops and thereby scored his third and final IM norm was Utah's brightest hope, 14-year-old Kayden Troff.

Troff was on track early in the tournament when he beat GM Mesgen Amanov in a sharp third round game.

Los Angeles 2012

White: M.Amanov

Black: K.Troff

Position after Black's 34th move

Amanov, after refusing a move repetition early in the game, has gambled on an exchange sacrifice, against which Troff defended well.

Now the Turkmen GM has one chance to save the game, by sacrificing again with .g5!! Bxf3 36.gxf6+ Kd7 37.Bxf3 Qxf3 38.Qh7+ when Black cannot avoid perpetual check in view of 38...Kc6! 39.Qc2+.

Missing this, Amanov soon runs out of counterplay and Troff cleans up efficiently.

Securing norms at the Metro International was made more difficult by the peculiarly American habit of allowing players to go home early for almost any reason. Four of the ten GMs did not complete their 9 games. Akobian and Amanov took byes to finish the tournament due to pre-Olympiad commitments. Dejan Bojkov, retired tired after eight rounds, although he would happily have played his final round game if it might have helped a player who needed a foreigner. However Robert Hess, second seed, was able to leave after seven rounds - with the organizers' approval – because his poor score was costing him too many rating points.

Coming from the country where legendary teacher Cecil Purdy propounded the theory that the only completely acceptable reason for leaving a tournament was a death certificate, the US attitude to withdrawals has always baffled me. Something to do with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, I guess.

To finish, a game from the Under 2100 division, Simone Sobel winning convincingly.